Tape players which are used for recording and reproducing audio signals or both audio and video signals have been widely used These tape players generally are adapted for use with audio cassette tapes or video cassette tapes. Recently, there has been developed a digital audio tape player (hereinafter called DAT players). The DAT players are capable of recording and/or reproducing digital signals to or from digital audio tape cassettes (hereinafter called DAT cassettes).
The DAT cassette is about a half the size of a conventional audio cassette tape. A tape housing of the DAT cassette is provided with a pivotal cover and a slide cover. The pivotal cover rockably covers a tape housed in the tape housing. The slide cover covers reel hubs of a take-up reel and a supply reel which are rotatably housed in the tape housing. The DAT cassette is thus designed to have a closed construction to prevent the intrusion of dust. The dust may injure the tape or cause a data drop-out during recording and/or reproducing operations.
The DAT player generally comprises a cassette loading mechanism and a tape loading mechanism. When the DAT cassette is applied to the DAT player, the cassette loading mechanism carries the DAT cassette into a prescribed operating position. The cassette loading mechanism also works on the pivotal cover and the slide cover during the loading operation. Thus, the pivotal cover turns to expose the tape and the slide cover slides to expose the reel hubs. The tape is then pulled out from the tape housing by the tape loading mechanism. The tape loading mechanism then loads the tape on a rotary head drum in the DAT player. When the tape loading operation is completed, the tape is wound on the rotary head drum for a prescribed periphery.
The tape loading mechanism comprises many elements, such as a tape pulling slider, a tape guide roller and a tape guide pin. In order to hold the tape stably in the loaded state, it is necessary to secure the tape loading mechanism, in particular, the tape pulling slider, in its position when the tape loading has been completed. The position of the tape loading is defined by a prescribed positioning device or a catcher.
Generally, a moment of force relating tO the operation of the tape pulling slider is used for holding the tape stably in the loaded state. The moment of force appears when the tape pulling slider is pressed against the catcher by a drive mechanism for driving the the tape pulling slider, e.g., a rotating link connected to the tape pulling slider. The accuracy of the tape loading completion state has been increased by making the moment of force large.
The moment of force often depends on the size of the tape loading mechanism. Recently, tape players including DAT players have been required to be compact in size. When the tape players are made compact in size, the size of the tape loading mechanism, e.g., the size of the rotating link, is reduced. This causes the moment of force applied to the tape pulling slider to be small so that the tape loading mechanism cannot hold the tape stably.